During
December, state legislatures in Ohio and Pennsylvania passed bills that will
help minor parties:

Ohio:
HB 445 was signed into law on December 23. It repeals existing Ohio law, banning
any ballot label for a candidate who qualifies for the November ballot by petition.
Instead, it gives such a candidate a choice of two labels: (1) "other-party
candidate"; (2) "nonparty candidate."

The vast
majority of minor parties in Ohio qualify their candidates for the ballot by
petition. It has long been a source of unhappiness that candidates who qualify
for the November ballot by petition cannot have their party label printed on
the ballot, next to their names. A majority of states let candidates who qualify
for the November ballot by petition choose a partisan label, and Ohio did so
between 1891 and 1947.

HB 445
doesn't restore the partisan label, but it is a half-way step toward restoring
it. Probably in 2004, the Ohio November ballot will list a presidential candidate
for the Republican Party, one for the Democratic Party, and then will list 4
or 5 other presidential candidates who will have the new label "other-party
candidate."

Newspaper
editorials and good government groups are likely to criticize that ballot. If
the state prints on the ballot "other-party candidate," the logical question
for everyone will surely be, "Well, which other party?" It should be possible
to persuade the legislature to expand the label provision, perhaps in 2005 if
not sooner, so that candidates can choose any label that is short and does not
mimic the name of a fully-qualified party.

HB 445
was passed due to the efforts of the Natural Law Party, and a sympathetic legislator,
Representative Merle Kearns.

Lawsuits
to force the state to print partisan labels for petitioning candidates won in
two different U.S. District Courts, but the 6th circuit overturned both victories.

Pennsylvania:
SB 824 was signed into law on December 9. It deletes the requirement that petition
signers must list their occupation on petitions. It also adds a place for signers
to print their names. This will make it easier to validate signatures, since
many individuals have signatures that are illegible.

In the
past, Pennsylvania disqualified petition signatures if the signer left the "occupation"
space completely blank. Seasoned circulators knew that if a line were drawn
through the "occupation" space for a particular signer, then the absence of
an occupation would not disqualify that signature. However, inexperienced circulators
frequently did not know this trick, and petition validity for these inexperienced
circulators suffered as a result.

GREEN
PARTY WINS N.Y. INJUNCTION

The Green
Party lost its status as a qualified party in New York on November 5, since
it didn't poll 50,000 votes for Governor. It filed a lawsuit in federal court
in Brooklyn, asking that voters continue to be allowed to register as members
of the Green Party. Green Party of N.Y. v Board of Elections, 02-cv-6465.

On December
12, U.S. District Court Judge John Gleeson, a Clinton appointee, issued a temporary
injunction to prevent the state from automatically converting all registered
Greens to independents. A hearing on the merits will be held January 16, 2003.
Unqualified parties desire to maintain a voter registration list so that they
can learn names and addresses of their supporters. Individual voters often have
strong desires to be registered in particular parties, whether those parties
are qualified or not. Similar lawsuits have won in Colorado, Oklahoma and New
Jersey.

New York
is one of only three states that doesn't provide a blank line in the "political
party" choice area of the voter registration form.

TWO
SECRETARIES OF STATE SEEK BETTER BALLOT ACCESS

In two
states, at least, the Secretary of State will ask 2003 sessions of the legislature
to improve ballot access for minor parties:

1. Nebraska:
the proposal will provide that if a party meets the 5% vote test at either of
the last two elections, it is qualified. Currently the vote test must be met
at every even-numbered election. The bill will, however, eliminate the ability
of a party to be qualified in only a single county.

2. North
Dakota: the proposal will permit a presidential candidate who qualifies
by petition for the November election, to choose a partisan label that will
be printed on the ballot next to the candidate's name. North Dakota makes it
easier to qualify an independent candidate than a new party, so most minor parties
use the independent candidate procedure. North Dakota formerly permitted partisan
labels for candidates who qualified by petition, but repealed this in 1989 (for
presidential candidates) and in 1983 (for candidates for other office).

In addition,
the proposal will make it possible for a new party petition to circulate during
odd years. Currently a new party petition can only be circulated January-April
of election years, when the weather is bad.

HIGH
COURT REFUSES ARIZ. DEADLINE CASE

On December
16, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Browne v Bayless, 02-561,the Arizona case over the early June deadline. As a result, in 2004, the
Arizona independent presidential deadline will be June 9, the second-earliest
of any state. Only Texas is earlier. The case had won in the State Court of
Appeals but lost in the State Supreme Court. It is possible the Arizona legislature
will improve the deadline this year.

CANADA
HIGH COURT LETS PRISONERS VOTE

On October
31, 2002, Canada's highest court ruled that prisoners must be permitted to vote
in Canadian elections. Sauve v Canada Chief Electoral Officer, 2002 SCC
68. The vote was 4-3.

Canada's
Charter says, "Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election
of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified
for membership therein." The majority based its decision on the Charter, and
said, "The government has failed to identify particular problems that require
denying the right to vote, making it hard to conclude that the denial is directed
at a pressing and substantial purpose...Denying penitentiary inmates the right
to vote is more likely to send messages that undermine respect for the law and
democracy than messages that enhance those values...To deny prisoners the right
to vote is to lose an important means of teaching them democratic values and
social responsibility."

Last month,
the Nebraska Secretary of State ruled that if a party qualifies in every congressional
district in the state, then it is qualified statewide. Nebraska is one of the
few states in which a party can be fully-qualified in just a single congressional
district, if it isn't qualified statewide.

At the
November 2002, the Libertarian Party failed to poll the 5% needed to be a qualified
statewide party. However, it did poll over 5% in two of the three congressional
districts, for its candidates for Congress. The question was, if the Libertarian
Party then did a petition to gain status as a qualified party in the missing
district, would it be a statewide qualified party? The Secretary answered "yes."
This "bootstrap" method of qualifying a statewide party has never before been
used in any state.

LAWSUIT
NEWS

1. Alaska:
shortly before the election, the Green and Republican Moderate Parties jointly
filed a lawsuit, asking that in future primaries, the state print a primary
ballot listing nominees from both those parties, and let all voters choose that
ballot. State law already lets parties decide to let all voters vote in their
primaries. But state law doesn't permit two parties to have a single primary
ballot containing all the candidates of those two different parties. In effect,
the two parties are requesting a limited "blanket" ballot for themselves. Green
Party v State, 3AN-02-10451.

2. California:
on November 22, the 9th circuit, on its own motion, suggested a rehearing in
Rubin v Santa Monica, 01-56091. California prints the occupation of candidates
on the ballot. The issue is whether "activist" is an occupation. The candidate
wanted to be listed as "Peace Activist." The candidate had lost earlier,
but now the Court itself feels the issue should be re-argued. New briefs are
being filed.

3. Florida:
a group of former high-ranking U.S. Justice Department officials has filed an
amicus brief in Johnson v Bush, the 11th circuit case over ex-felon
voting rights. The officials argue that there is no law enforcement reason to
continue to bar voting by ex-felons.

4. Georgia:
a case is pending in federal court against Georgia's open primary. It was filed
by supporters of Cynthia McKinney, who lost the Democratic primary earlier this
year. Osburn v Cox, 1:02-cv-2721, n.d. The case depends on the federal
Voting Rights Act, not the Constitution. No political party has joined the lawsuit.

5. Illinois:
the last B.A.N. mentioned a lawsuit against the 25,000-signature requirement
to run for Chicago Mayor. Proponents of the lawsuit had feared that Mayor Richard
Daley would be unopposed, if no relief were gained. However, four candidates
besides Daley filed petitions. Even though they didn't have enough, no one challenged
any petition, so all 5 are on the ballot.

Illinois
(2): a case is pending against state law that limits absentee voting to
voters who are physically absent from their home county on election day. Griffin
v Roupas, 02-c-5270, federal court, Chicago. Plaintiffs include voters who
work long hours, and others who must care for young children during all hours
that the polls are open.

6. New
York: the Republican Party lost a ballot access case on September 21, and
as a result had no candidate for U.S. House, 5th district. New York has tough
petition requirements to get on primary ballots for district office. The candidate
failed to get 1,250 signatures of registered Republicans. He argued that since
redistricting was late, the normal petitioning period was unusually short, and
therefore the signature requirement should be lowered, but the Court wasn't
persuaded. Queens Co. Republican Comm. v State Bd. of Elections, 222
F Supp 2d 341.

7. Puerto
Rico: on November 5, a hearing was held in federal court over a law that
doesn't allow anyone to circulate a petition to create a new party, unless that
person is a notary public as well as an attorney. There are only 7,000 such
individuals in Puerto Rico. New parties need 100,694 signatures. Emilio v
Melecio, 01-2132.

8. Virginia:
a lawsuit is pending in federal court in Norfolk, against state law that makes
it almost impossible for ex-felons to register to vote. Perry-Bey v Warner,
2:02-cv-836.

9. Washington:
the 9th circuit will hear Washington Democratic Party v Reed on Feb.
6 in Seattle. The issue is whether the state can force political parties to
use a blanket primary, in a state in which no voters are registered as members
of any party.

SUPPORT
FOR IRV

In the
last few weeks, Instant-Runoff Voting has received editorial support from two
Florida newspapers, the St. Petersburg Times and the Palm Beach Post.
They argue that IRV could save the state the expense of run-off primaries. USA
Today also again endorsed IRV.

2002
VOTE FOR U.S. SENATE

a

Rep.

Dem.

Lib't.

Reform

Green

Const.

Nat
Law

other
pty

Indp.

Alabama

792,561

538,878

20,234

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Alaska

179,438

24,133

2,354

16,608

- -

- -

6,724

- -

Arkansas

370,653

433,306

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Colorado

717,892

648,129

20,776

- -

- -

21,547

- -

- -

7,749

Del.

94,793

135,253

922

- -

- -

- -

350

996

- -

Georgia

1,071,352

932,422

27,830

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Idaho

266,215

132,975

9,354

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Illinois

1,325,703

2,103,766

57,382

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Iowa

447,892

554,278

8,864

- -

11,340

- -

- -

- -

- -

Kansas

641,075

- -

70,725

65,050

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Kentucky

731,679

399,634

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Louisiana

632,702

596,900

2,423

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

14,308

Maine

295,041

209,858

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Mass.

- -

1,605,976

369,807

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

24,898

Michigan

1,185,545

1,896,614

- -

12,831

23,931

- -

10,366

- -

- -

Minn.

1,116,697

1,067,246

- -

- -

10,119

2,254

- -

45,139

11,394

Miss.

533,269

- -

- -

97,226

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Missouri

935,032

913,778

18,345

- -

10,465

- -

- -

- -

- -

Montana

103,611

204,853

10,420

- -

7,653

- -

- -

- -

- -

Nebraska

397,438

70,290

7,423

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

5,066

N. Hamp.

227,229

207,478

9,835

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

2,396

N. Jersey

928,439

1,138,193

12,558

- -

24,308

- -

- -

9,106

- -

N. Mex.

314,193

168,863

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

No.
Car.

1,248,664

1,047,983

33,807

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

727

Okla.

583,579

369,789

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

65,056

Oregon

712,287

501,898

29,979

- -

- -

21,703

- -

- -

- -

R.I.

69,808

253,774

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

S.Car.

595,218

484,422

6,648

- -

- -

8,202

- -

- -

- -

S.Dak.

166,957

167,481

3,070

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Tenn.

891,498

728,232

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

22,346

Texas

2,497,243

1,955,758

35,538

- -

25,051

- -

- -

- -

1,422

Virginia

1,229,894

- -

106,055

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

145,102

W.Va.

155,922

266,192

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Wyoming

133,710

49,570

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

TOTAL

21,593,229

19,807,922

864,349

158,499

146,083

53,706

10,716

61,965

300,464

Other parties: Alaska,
Alaskan Independence; Delaware, Independent Party; Minnesota, Independence Party;
New Jersey, Conservative 6,404 and Socialist 2,702. The "independent" column
contains independent candidates who were on the ballot, as well as the vote
for declared write-in candidates. Scattered write-ins that were not broken down
in official state election returns are not included. The Louisiana returns are
for the November 5 election, not the December 7 run-off.

In 1996, when this same
set of U.S. Senate seats was last up, the U.S. Senate totals for each party
were: Republican 24,211,395; Democratic 23,490,651; Libertarian 375,794; Reform
286,898; Natural Law 204,971; Green 106,084; Constitution (then called US Taxpayer)
41,465; Socialist Workers 17,860; other parties 172,614.

2002 was the first election
since U.S. Senators were first elected, that no candidates of any Marxist party
appeared on the ballot for U.S. Senate. The United States has been electing
U.S. Senators by popular vote since 1914. The longest-lived Marxist parties
in the U.S. have been the SocialistLabor, Communist, andSocialist
Workers Parties. However, the best showing by any Marxist party in a U.S. Senate
election in U.S. history was by the Workers World Party in Ohio in 1992. The
party polled 321,228 votes (6.7%) in a race that included a Democrat and a Republican.

2002
VOTE FOR U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

q

Rep.

Dem.

Lib't.

Green

Const.

Nat.
Law

Reform

other
pty

Indp.

Alabama

694,606

507,117

64,839

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Alaska

169,685

39,357

3,797

14,435

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Arizona

681,922

472,135

40,308

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

35

Arkansas

283,739

392,086

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

12,451

Calif.

3,225,666

3,731,081

260,083

20,674

9,325

4,860

4,726

- -

2,002

Colorado

752,996

589,462

38,831

6,483

2,427

3,520

3,133

- -

222

Conn.

465,982

509,036

1,503

9,050

3,709

- -

- -

- -

- -

Del.

164,605

61,011

2,789

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

D.C.

- -

119,268

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

7,733

Florida

2,161,349

1,537,124

- -

- -

47,169

- -

- -

8,639

12,277

Georgia

1,104,622

814,295

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Hawaii

116,693

232,344

8,747

- -

- -

2,200

- -

- -

- -

Idaho

256,348

138,038

10,637

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Illinois

1,657,183

1,740,541

23,551

7,836

- -

- -

- -

- -

25

Indiana

840,694

640,568

37,270

2,745

- -

- -

- -

- -

76

Iowa

546,382

453,550

9,819

- -

- -

- -

- -

569

1,544

Kansas

536,026

259,911

28,907

- -

- -

- -

5,046

- -

- -

Kentucky

693,860

350,924

7,705

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

41,753

Louisiana

707,923

361,473

75,907

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

7,055

Maine

205,780

289,514

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Maryland

752,911

904,250

- -

186

- -

- -

- -

- -

1,794

Mass.

290,484

1,528,634

11,729

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

863

Michigan

1,474,178

1,507,174

51,983

12,939

5,613

- -

3,912

- -

98

Minn.

1,029,612

1,097,911

- -

37,708

- -

- -

- -

21,484

12,430

Miss.

338,817

320,157

6,439

- -

- -

- -

9,843

1,431

949

Missouri

985,905

829,177

34,217

4,262

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Montana

214,100

108,233

8,988

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Nebraska

386,869

46,843

36,866

3,236

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Nevada

301,100

171,160

6,834

1,393

11,795

784

- -

- -

6,842

N. Hamp.

254,797

175,905

12,438

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

N. Jersey

933,964

1,030,204

20,605

10,024

- -

- -

- -

3,042

8,220

N. Mex.

175,342

262,071

- -

43

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

N. York

1,526,771

1,770,651

526

35,506

- -

- -

- -

488,159

- -

No.
Car.

1,209,033

970,716

64,400

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

No.
Dak.

109,957

121,073

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Ohio

1,744,301

1,304,894

- -

8,628

- -

- -

- -

- -

41,169

Okla.

546,832

391,927

63,093

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Oregon

528,997

676,920

22,626

- -

3,495

- -

- -

6,588

- -

Penn.

1,859,270

1,348,665

24,086

63,357

10,393

- -

3,304

- -

- -

R.I.

97,056

224,545

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

6,637

S.Car.

564,223

344,972

25,110

- -

8,930

6,951

- -

27,922

- -

S.Dak.

180,023

153,656

3,128

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Tenn.

770,510

708,375

9,758

1,205

- -

23,208

- -

- -

14,279

Texas

2,290,723

1,885,178

107,141

10,394

- -

- -

- -

- -

1,774

Utah

321,986

221,401

7,133

6,616

- -

- -

- -

- -

17

Vermont

72,813

- -

2,033

- -

- -

- -

- -

5,529

144,880

Virginia

1,007,749

440,478

4,558

20,589

26,892

- -

- -

- -

- -

Wash.

778,922

907,440

48,677

4,077

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

W.Va.

134,380

253,792

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

272

Wisc.

889,146

676,925

11,080

25,662

- -

- -

- -

- -

29,567

Wyoming

110,229

65,961

5,962

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

TOTAL

37,147,061

33,688,123

1,204,103

307,048

129,748

41,523

29,964

563,363

354,964

The chart
shows the strength of the Republican vote for U.S. House at the 2002 election:
50.56% of the voters voted Republican; 45.86% Democratic. This 4.7% margin of
Republicans over Democrats contrasts sharply to the Republican margin in each
of the three preceding elections (1996-2000), when it was always less than 1%
of the total vote cast.

The Libertarian
share of the U.S. House vote (1.6%) is worth noting. Except for the Libertarian
share in 2000, which was 1.7%, this was the highest share of the U.S. House
vote received by a minor party since 1948.

The vote
for all minor party and independent candidates together was 3.59%. This was
down from 2000, when it was 4.17%. The decline is not surprising, since more
districts had minor party and independent candidates in 2000 than in 2002. There
were 328 such districts in 2000, but only 293 districts in 2002.

The Constitution
Party was the only nationally-organized party that polled more votes for U.S.
House in 2002 than it did in 2000 (excluding the America First Party, which
didn't exist in 2000, and which received 2,096 in 2002).

Other parties are: Florida,
Independence; Iowa, Socialist Workers; Minnesota, Independence; Mississippi,
America First; New Jersey, Conservative 1,606 and Socialist 771 and America
First 665; New York, 199,829 Conservative and 128,774 Independence and 78,221
Working Families and 63,209 Right to Life and 18,126 Liberal; Oregon, Socialist;
South Carolina, United Citizens; Vermont, Liberty Union 3,185 and Grassroots
2,344. The Ohio independent total includes 27,487 votes (15.1%) for former Congressman
James Traficante, who was on the ballot as an independent even though he is
in prison.

2002
VOTE FOR GOVERNORS

s

Rep.

Dem.

Green

Lib't.

Nat.
Law

Const.

Reform

other
pty

Indp.

Alabama

672,225

669,105

- -

23,272

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Alaska

129,279

94,216

2,926

1,109

- -

- -

- -

3,691

- -

Arizona

554,465

566,284

- -

20,356

- -

- -

- -

- -

85,006

Arkansas

427,082

378,250

- -

35

- -

- -

- -

- -

329

Calif.

3,169,801

3,533,490

393,036

161,203

88,415

128,035

- -

28

2,303

Colorado

884,583

475,372

32,099

20,547

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Conn.

573,958

448,984

- -

- -

- -

- -

29

- -

27

Florida

2,856,845

2,201,427

- -

172

- -

- -

- -

68

42,069

Georgia

1,042,221

937,335

1,008

47,968

- -

- -

- -

- -

61

Hawaii

197,009

179,647

- -

1,364

2,561

- -

- -

382

- -

Idaho

231,566

171,711

- -

8,187

- -

- -

- -

- -

13

Illinois

1,594,960

1,847,040

- -

73,794

- -

- -

- -

- -

23,097

Iowa

456,615

540,449

14,628

13,048

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Kansas

376,830

441,858

- -

8,097

- -

- -

8,907

- -

- -

Maine

209,496

238,179

46,903

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

10,612

Maryland

879,592

813,422

- -

11,546

- -

- -

- -

- -

262

Mass.

1,091,988

985,981

76,530

23,044

- -

- -

- -

- -

15,335

Michigan

1,506,104

1,633,796

25,236

- -

- -

12,411

- -

7

11

Minn.

999,473

821,268

50,589

- -

- -

2,537

- -

367,560

- -

Nebraska

330,349

132,348

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

18,294

- -

Nevada

344,001

110,935

4,775

8,104

- -

7,047

- -

- -

5,543

N. Hamp.

259,663

169,277

- -

13,028

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

N. Mex.

189,090

268,674

26,465

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

N. York

2,085,407

1,443,531

41,797

5,013

- -

- -

- -

1,003,330

- -

Ohio

1,831,110

1,212,392

- -

- -

124,595

- -

- -

272

512

Okla.

441,277

448,143

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

146,200

Oregon

581,785

618,004

- -

57,760

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Pennsy.

1,566,567

1,899,518

38,423

40,923

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

Rhode
Is.

181,687

150,147

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

So.
Car.

580,459

518,288

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

So.
Dak.

189,920

140,263

- -

1,983

- -

- -

- -

- -

2,393

Tenn.

786,863

837,280

- -

1,589

- -

- -

- -

- -

27,115

Texas

2,617,106

1,809,915

32,094

66,100

- -

- -

- -

- -

1,853

Vermont

103,436

97,565

- -

938

- -

- -

- -

2,776

25,297

Wisc.

734,779

800,515

44,111

185,455

- -

- -

2,847

- -

5,276

Wyoming

88,873

92,662

- -

3,924

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

TOTAL

30,766,464

27,727,271

830,620

799,086

215,571

150,030

11,783

1,396,408

404,167

Other parties: Alaska,
2,185 Alaskan Independence and 1,506 Republican Moderate; California, Socialist
Workers; Florida, 44 Christian and 28 Socialist Workers; Hawaii, Free Energy;
Michigan, Socialist Workers; Minnesota, 364,534 Independence and 3,026 Socialist
Workers; Nebraska, Nebraska Party; New York, 654,016 Independence and 176,848
Conservative and 90,533 Working Families and 44,195 Right to Life and 21,977
Marijuana Reform and 15,761 Liberal; Ohio, Socialist Workers; Vermont, 1,380
Progressive and 771 Grassroots and 625 Liberty Union. The "independent" column
contains independent candidates who were on the ballot, as well as the vote
for declared write-in candidates (unless the declared write-in candidates were
party nominees; in that case the write-in candidates are in party columns).
Scattered write-ins are not included above.

In 1998, when this same
set of gubernatorial seats was last up, the gubernatorial totals for each party
were: Republican 29,455,412; Democratic 25,149,416; Reform 1,355,731; Constitution
(then called US Taxpayers) 423,176; Libertarian 362,337; Green 214,130; Natural
Law 106,414; other parties 609,390.

The highest percentage
for any minor party candidate for a statewide office in 2002 was in the Vermont
Lieutenant Governor's race, for the Progressive Party. The vote was Republican
41.2%; Democratic 32.1%; Progressive 24.8%; Grassroots 1.9%.

WISCONSIN
LP WINS SEAT ON STATE ELECTIONS BOARD

The Wisconsin Libertarian
Party earned a place on the State Elections Board because it polled over 10%
for Governor. That Board has existed since 1973 and this is the first time any
party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties has been able to name
a Board member. Other states with Election Boards are Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland,
New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Virginia. Only Democrats
and Republicans sit on the Board in those states.

CONSTITUTION
PARTY WINS ITS FIRST PARTISAN ELECTION

The Constitution
Party was formed in 1990 and until November 5, 2002, it had never won a partisan
election. However, on that day, its nominee for Scott Township Trustee, Hamilton
County, Iowa, was elected. Greg Moeller had the party name on the ballot next
to his name. He polled 69 votes; a write-in campaign was launched against him,
but only 13 write-ins were cast.

DEMOCRATS
SET CONVENTION DATE

The Democratic
presidential convention in 2004 will be July 26-29. The decision, made in late
November, ended speculation that the Democrats might meet simultaneously with
the Republicans (August 31-Sep. 2). The Republican convention is so late, the
Republican Party must persuade state legislatures in several states to relax
deadlines for qualified parties to notify states of their presidential and vice-presidential
nominees. If the Democrats had picked the same late date, obviously both major
parties would have worked together on this project. Now, the Republicans will
need to work on this project alone.

PARTY
LOSES ITS ONLY LEGISLATOR

The Republican
Moderate Party, which was a ballot-qualified party in Alaska 1998-2002, elected
a State Senator on November 5, 2002. However, the candidate, Tom Wagoner, a
former Mayor of Kenai, changed his registration to "Republican" the day after
the election.

INDEPENDENT
LEGISLATORS

The last
B.A.N. listed the eight minor party legislators elected in 2002, but
didn't list the nine independents elected: William Lantigua in Massachusetts,
Buddy DeLoach in Georgia, and William McManus in Rhode Island. Also these three
in Vermont: William Johnson, Tom Pelham and Daryl Pillsbury. Also these three
in Maine: Troy Jackson, Gary Sukeforth and Richard Woodbury. Vermont's Bernie
Sanders was re-elected to Congress.

2004
PETITIONING

Changes
since the Dec. 1, 2002 Ballot Access News:

1. Green
Party: is now on the Maryland ballot, and has 5,000 signatures in North
Carolina.

2. Libertarian
Party: now has 3,500 signatures in Maryland, 75 in Nebraska, and 12,000
in Ohio.

ERRATA:
the Dec. 1 B.A.N. said no minor party nominee had been elected to a State
Senate (until 2002) since 1944. However, the American Party elected a State
Senator from Tennessee in 1970. Also, the "2002 Vote for the Office at the Top
of Ticket" accidentally omitted the Green Michigan vote of 25,236, and erroneously
put the Ohio Natural Law Party vote into the Oklahoma row. These corrections
have been made to the online version.